Method and System for Evaluating, Reporting, and Improving On-Line Promotion Effectiveness

ABSTRACT

A system and method for populating and analyzing a member consumer profile database for implementing an incentive driven targeted product marketing program is disclosed. To implement the targeted product marketing program, personal profile information is collected from several member consumers and stored in a profile database. A group of the member consumers are identified and selected, and the promotion operator provides a promotion to this group on behalf of a sponsor. During and/or after the promotion, information is solicited from the member consumer about the promotion in exchange for rewards. In addition, interactive behavior information of the member consumer is tracked. The solicited information and the interactive behavior information can then be used to enrich the profile database for future promotions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/519,266, filed Mar. 7, 2000 and entitled, “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOREVALUATING, REPORTING, AND IMPROVING ON-LINE PROMOTION EFFECTIVENESS,”the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to product advertisements andpromotions, and more particularly, to a system and method forevaluating, reporting, and improving promotion effectiveness throughboth on-line and off-line communication channels.

With the advent of the Internet, traditional advertising and promotionactivities have been rapidly transformed to cover both on-line andoff-line product and service promotions. The on-line world has beenintegrated into the traditional market, and has become anothercommunication channel between the provider and the purchaser of productsor services. For the purpose of describing the present invention, it isunderstood that the term “product” includes any product or service thatcan be promoted.

On one hand, it is now possible to directly access a targeted customeror consumer base through new communication or presentation means such asemails and websites. On the other hand, it has become more difficult toevaluate the effectiveness of a particular promotion because theconsumers have far more communication channels to receive theinformation about the promoted products.

It is desired to provide a promotion that is targeted to a group ofselected consumers who are likely to have a serious interest in thepromoted product. However, the interests of consumers are constantlychanging. Thus the effectiveness of a promotion depends largely on thetargeting process for determining the group of selected consumers. Thetargeting process not only requires significant information about theconsumers in general, but the information must be correct andup-to-date. While many manufacturers and advertisers consider on-linepromotions to be one of the most effective and economical way to markettheir products, evaluating, reporting and improving the effectiveness ofthe on-line product promotions remains a significant problem.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A system and method is provided for creating, evaluating, reporting, andimproving on-line product promotions for a targeted product marketingprogram. The program is operated by a promotion operator on behalf of atleast one sponsor and/or advertiser. In one embodiment, a profiledatabase is created through a member enrollment process to recruit aplurality of consumers (hereinafter “member consumers”) by the promotionoperator. After its creation, the profile database may be enrichedthroughout and beyond the life cycle of various promotions. The presentinvention provides a more complete picture of how a specific promotionhas affected the decision making process of a group of member consumersthan any conventional method. It also may report information back to thesponsor/advertiser and the promotion operator so that future promotionscan be better designed and future consumers can be targeted moreclosely.

In one embodiment, the profile database is constantly refined andanalyzed through a dynamic profile enrichment process, a behavioralanalysis process, a promotion result verification process, and aperiodic profile updating process. The dynamic profile enrichmentprocess continually enriches personal profile information of each memberconsumer stored in the profile database. The behavioral analysis processcompliments the personal profile information with actual behaviorinformation of the member consumer that details the website interactiveactions performed by the member consumer. The promotion resultverification process verifies the results of a specific promotion. Theperiodic profile updating process may include monthly and quarterlyfollow-ups with the member consumer who has received promotions from thepromotion operator. It may also include periodic service driven surveysfor member consumers who have expressed a negative interest about thepromotion. Through these processes, the effectiveness of each promotionis ensured and the value of the profile database is improved.

Based on the profile database, various reports can be generated for thebenefit of both the advertiser and the promotion operator for analyzingmany aspects of the promotion and provide valuable information forimproving the design of future promotions.

Since the success of the promotion depends largely on the selected groupof member consumers, the promotion operator may communicate with themember consumers during and after the promotion in order to evaluate thepromotion and understand the interests of the member consumers. In orderto provide incentives for soliciting needed information from the memberconsumers, the promotion operator may provide one or more rewards to themember consumers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified communication system including at leastthree computers and a network, the system being used for implementingone embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an incentive driven on-line product promotion systemand method according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 3A, 4, 5A, 6, 7, and 8A are flowcharts for implementing consumerenrollment and database enrichment processes of the promotion system andmethod of FIG. 2.

FIGS. 3B-3C, 5B-5I, and 8B-8E illustrate screen displays forimplementing consumer enrollment and database enrichment processes ofthe promotion system and method of FIG. 2.

FIGS. 9-10, 11A, and 12A are flowcharts for illustrating databaseenrichment and profile analysis processes of the promotion system andthe method of FIG. 2.

FIGS. 11B-11D and 12B-12C illustrate screen displays for illustratingdatabase enrichment and profile analysis processes of the promotionsystem and the method of FIG. 2.

FIG. 13 is a Venn diagram for illustrating target group selection forthe method of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention provides a unique system and method for creating,evaluating, reporting, and improving product promotions in acommunications network. It is understood that the following disclosureprovides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementingdifferent features of this invention. Therefore, specific examples ofnetworks, components, entities, and properties are described below tosimplify the present disclosure. These are, of course, merely examplesand are not intended to limit the invention from that described in theclaims.

The following disclosure is separated, for the sake of clarity, intofour discussions: 1) an exemplary network; 2) method summary; 3)consumer enrollment and database enrichment processes; and 4) furtherdatabase enrichment and profile analysis processes. Each of thediscussions focuses on one or more examples for implementing theinvention. To simplify the following disclosure, many examples arecontinued through each of the discussions.

1. Exemplary Network

Referring now to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the reference numeral 10designates, in general, a typical communication system. The system 10 iscentered around a network 12, which may be any combination of theInternet, local area networks, telephone network, and intranets. For thesake of example, the network 12 will be considered to be the Internetand will utilize Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) totransmit data between various nodes connected to the network.Communication techniques such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or SecureHyperText Transmission Protocol (HTTPS) can also be used to provideextra security for certain transactions.

Many nodes may be attached to each other through the network 12,represented by three nodes 14, 16, and 18. The nodes 14-18 areillustrated as personal computers, but it is understood that each nodecan actually represent one or more different computing devices,including mainframe servers, wireless telephones, personal digitalassistants, television devices and the like.

Referring to node 14 for example, the node includes a processing unit, amemory, and a network interface, generally represented as computer 14 a.The computer 14 a also includes a consumer interface, which in thepresent example includes a monitor 14 b and a keyboard 14 c. It isunderstood that each of the listed components may actually representseveral different components. For example, the computer 14 a mayactually represent a distributed processing system including differentlevels of main memory, hard disks, server/client memory, and remotestorage locations. Furthermore, it is understood that, in manyimplementations, the nodes 14, 16, and 18 may be configured differentlyfrom each other and/or may have different components.

For the sake of reference, the node 14 will represent one or morepotential consumers of goods and/or services provided through thenetwork 12. The node 16 will represent one or more sponsors and/oradvertisers desiring to advertise or sell goods or services over thenetwork 12. The node 18 will represent a promotion operator for helpingthe sponsor/advertiser 16 with certain promotions of their goods andservices.

2. Method Summary

The present invention provides a method for populating and analyzing amember consumer profile database for implementing an incentive driventargeted product marketing program. The targeted product marketingprogram begins with identifying and registering a plurality of consumers14. Once registered, the consumers are “member consumers.” The promotionoperator 18 can then deliver promotions directly to selected groups ofthe member consumers 14 (a “segment”) for the benefit of the promotionsponsor/advertiser 16.

Since the effectiveness of the promotion depends on identifying thesegment of member consumers 14 who are likely to purchase the promotedproduct, the promotion operator solicits specific information tofacilitate the selection of the segment. The information may beretrieved from the member consumers 14 in various occurrences before,during, and after the promotion(s). The promotion operator 18 mayexplicitly request information from the member consumer 14, or mayderive information responsive to the member consumer's behavior duringthe promotion. In some embodiments, the member consumers 14 provide thisinformation in exchange for “reward points” or “reward money.” Theinformation may then be stored in one or more databases.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a method 20 can be used to create, evaluate,report, and/or improve product promotions for the sponsor/advertiser 16through the network 10. The method is generally performed by thepromotion operator 18, with inputs from the member consumer 14 and thesponsor/advertiser 16. It is understood that certain steps and processesof the method 20 can be distributed throughout the network 12.

At step 22, one or more databases 30 are populated with the enrollment,or registration, of the one or more consumers 14. The method allows forthe consumers 14 to register with the promotion operator 18 to receiverewards in exchange for reviewing promotion information through thenetwork 12. Registration may include a series of questions asked by thepromotion operator 18, including information about the member consumer'snetwork activities and information relating to the promotions providedby the sponsors and/or advertisers 16.

For the sake of example, the profile database 30 is illustrated asincluding a transaction database 30 a and a marketing database 30 b. Thetransaction database 30 a includes information that is specific to theconsumers 14 and obtained from the member consumers through interactionsbetween the promotion operator 16 and the member consumers 14. Themarketing database 30 b is an analytical repository that includesvarious types of information, including data that is specific to thesponsors/advertisers 16 and extracts of data from the transactiondatabase 30 a. It is understood that these two databases 30 a, 30 b aremerely functional representations, and may actually refer to a singledatabase or many distributed databases.

At step 23, a segment of member consumers is identified and a promotionprogram is provided to the segment. The promotion program may bedesigned by the promotion operator, responsive to information receivedduring registration (and elsewhere).

At step 24, the profile database 30 is constantly “enriched.” Theenrichment is facilitated by the member consumers 14 accessing andevaluating certain promotions. For example, the promotion operator 18may ask the member consumers 14 to evaluate and/or rate the promotions.This evaluation and/or rating process may occur during the promotion, orafter the promotion has ended.

The enrichment is further facilitated by performing dynamic analysis ofthe member consumers actions during the promotion. For example, behaviorinformation such as how many member consumers accessed the promotion,how long the promotion was actively reviewed, how many consumersselected embedded links (internal subsets) of the promotion, and soforth may be recorded. Alternatively or in addition, the promotionresults may also be verified with the sponsor/advertiser 16.

At step 26, by analyzing the enriched and updated profile database 30,the promotion operator 18, and thus the sponsors/advertisers 16, canobtain valuable information with respect to the effectiveness of variouspromotions. This may include historical rating information given by eachmember consumer 14 for similar promotions, average rating information ofsimilar promotions, average rating information of all selected memberconsumers, and statistical distribution information based on ratinginformation collected. This analysis enables the promotion operator 18to create various promotion reports if necessary.

The method 20 can be implemented by performing various processesdiscussed below. The processes can be performed in various order,several processes can be simultaneously implemented, and some processesmay not be performed at all.

3. Consumer Enrollment and Database Enrichment Processes

Referring now to FIGS. 3A-3C and FIG. 4, there are various ways toaccomplish consumer enrollment. A member-centric invitation process 50is illustrated in FIG. 3A, and a sponsor/advertiser-centric invitationprocess 100 is illustrated in FIG. 4. Although the present embodimentsprovide a by-invitation rewards program, it is understood that othertypes of programs may also utilize the present invention.

Referring specifically to FIG. 3A, at step 52, a member consumer 14 mayaccess a predetermined website, such as one owned and operated by thesponsor/advertiser or the promotion operator 18. At step 54, theconsumer 14 requests invitation from the sponsor/advertiser 16 ordirectly from the promotion operator 18. At step 56, the consumer 14provides contact information to the promotion operator 18 and at step 58the consumer selects a sponsor 16 (if not already selected). The sponsor16 may later “approve” of the consumer's enrollment.

Referring also to FIGS. 3B and 3C, in the present embodiment, theconsumer 14 provides the contact information, as well as additionaldemographic information, on two screen displays 59 a, 59 b. Theinformation provided by the consumer 14 is then stored in thetransaction database 30 a.

At step 60 of FIG. 3A, the consumer 14 is notified of his approval toenroll (if so approved). This notification can be by an email shown atstep 62, by post card, or other means. The approval may have associatedwith it an invitation code. If the notification is provided via email, alink to a registration website may be provided and the invitation codemay be embedded in the link.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the sponsor/advertiser-centric invitationprocess 100 is similar to the member-centric invitation process 50 ofFIG. 3A, with some exceptions. The primary objective of this process isthe creation and distribution of invitations via an email, post card, orother message directly to the consumer 14, with an invitation code. Atstep 102, the promotion operator initiates a planning process with thesponsor/advertiser 16. At steps 104-106, either the consumer 14 or thesponsor 16 may provide, as an option, certain data requirements (e.g.,names and addresses) about the consumer to the promotion operator 18,who then validates the information. The data requirements may be storedin a Staged File database 30 c. At steps 108-110, a decision is made toavoid redundant information in the database. That is, the consumerinformation provided at step 104 is compared to a list of consumers thathave already enrolled, thereby preventing confusion of the memberconsumers 14 and unnecessary costs. At step 112, the sponsor 16 also hasthe choice of submitting the invitations directly to the consumers 14.Otherwise, at step 114 the promotion operator 18 sends an enrollmentinvitation to the consumers 14, such as at step 62 of FIG. 3A, above.

Referring now to FIG. 5A, when the consumer 14 has been invited byeither invitation process 50 or 100 to enroll, the consumer 14 caninitiate an enrollment and profile creation process 150. At step 152,when the consumer 14 accesses a website identified by the invitation,the invitation code is provided to the promotion operator 18 eithermanually or via ail electronic communication link. FIG. 5B illustratesone example of a screen display for welcoming and encouraging theconsumer 14 to enroll.

At steps 154-160 in FIG. 5A, a profile entry in the database 30 a iscreated for the consumer by receiving previously entered information(from the enrollment process) and/or asking the consumer various surveyquestions. The questions may relate to demographics (e.g., educationlevel), areas of interest (e.g., computers), major purchases (e.g., ahouse), and purchasing behavior (e.g., an Internet shopper). FIGS. 5C-5Hillustrate sample screen displays that are designed to obtain usefulinformation from the consumer 14 during the enrollment process so thatthe core content of a personal profile for the consumer 14 can bepopulated.

At step 164 in FIG. 5A, once the consumer 14 has completed theinformation, he may be given a free gift or presented with a choice ofgifts. The choices may change based on who invited the member and otherfactors. The gift may be fulfilled by various means, such as a couponcode, reward points, or an actual item delivered to the consumer 14.With the completion of a successful enrollment, the invited consumer isnow a member consumer 14.

FIG. 5I shows a screen display that informs the successfully enrolledmember consumer 14 that a $25 travel certificate will be mailed to himas a welcome gift, and $5 of reward points has been credited to arewards account, which is maintained by the promotion operator 18.

Referring now to FIGS. 6 and 7, the sponsor/advertiser 16 can create apromotion campaign using a process 200 to send promotions to the memberconsumers 14. At step 202, in the present embodiment, a promotion isproduced and delivered by the promotion operator 18. At steps 204-216,the promotion operator 18 coordinates with the sponsor/advertiser 16 todetermine the content of the promotion, and to identify potentialrecipients of the promotion. The promotion operator 18 may also use themarketing database 30 b to determine which member consumers 14 shouldreceive the promotion, discussed in greater detail below.

Various characterizations can be made concerning the promotion. At step206, it is determined whether the promotion has been provided before. Atstep 208, the promotion is parameterized. For example, is the promotionan especially good deal? Is it expensive? This parameterization is usedto judge the relative effectiveness of the promotion and to enable thecomparison of this promotion with other promotions. At steps 210-216, ananalysis model is selected. The analysis model is used to select thegroup of member consumers 14 (the “segment”) to receive the promotion.

At step 216, when a promotion and segment are created, the promotion maybe examined again to ensure a good segment is created, and if so, thesponsor/advertiser may approve and issue a purchase order to thepromotion operator 18 (step 218). The promotion operator 18 is now readyto execute the promotion.

Referring now to FIG. 7, at step 212, the promotion is assigned anidentifier for identifying the promotion in later analysis. If thepromotion operator 18 issues the promotion, then an email is created forthe segment (step 214), the segment is prepared for distribution (step216), and a promotion website is designed (step 218). If at step 220 thepromotion website is acceptable, then at step 222, the promotion websiteis placed on the Internet. In addition, at steps 224-234, the promotionis emailed to the member consumers 14 in the segment.

Referring now to FIG. 8A, the promotion operator 18 can interact witheach member consumer 14 using an interaction and currency accrualprocess 250. The process 250 is, at least initially, performed while themember consumer is reading the emails or at the predetermined promotionwebsites. In addition, the member consumer 14 can be rewarded atdifferent points during the process 250. The rewards may be giventhrough “reward money” or “reward points” which may represent credit ordiscounts for purchasing goods or services.

At step 252, the member consumer 14 receives the promotion offer via anelectronic communication means and receives a first amount of rewardpoints. For the purpose of illustrating the processes involved, thepromotion is deemed to be delivered through emails only although otherelectronic communication means such as HTML emails can also be used. Atstep 254, the member consumer 14 accesses the promotion website, reviewsthe details about the promotion, and receives more reward points. FIG.8B illustrates a screen display for one example of a promotion presentedto the member consumer 14 through a website operated by the promotionoperator 18.

At step 256 of FIG. 8A, the member consumer 14 may rate the promotion orparticipate in other steps to evaluate the promotion. FIG. 8Cillustrates a website wherein the member consumer 14 is asked to ratethe promotion (such as the promotion in FIG. 8B) about its richness andits relevance. The richness indicates how valuable a promotion is to themember consumer, and the relevance indicates how closely the promotionmatches the interests of the member consumer 14. These two parametersare two of various indicators for the effectiveness of the promotion.

At step 256 of FIG. 8A, the promotion operator 18 may solicit moreinformation from the member consumer 14. The promotion operator 18 mayask the member consumer 14 to describe the relative value of the offeredpromotion. In addition, the promotion website (e.g., FIG. 8B) maydynamically solicit the member consumer 14 for information relating toother promotions (which may or may not be related to the presentpromotion).

In the example of FIG. 8C, the member consumer 14 is given anopportunity to earn more reward points by clicking a button 259 labeledas “Earn More.” By clicking on the button 259, the member consumer isdirected to a new website where more questions are asked in exchange forreward points. Referring to FIG. 8D for example, the questions may be asubset of those questions previously asked during the enrollment processand/or may pertain to a specific promotion (the present promotion orfuture promotions). In this way, the questions can explore undetectedinterests of the member consumer 14 which are logically connected to thereceived promotion. The member consumer 14 can be rewarded at the end ofthis dynamic solicitation process.

At steps 260-264 of FIG. 8A, if the member consumer 14 shows interest inthe promotion, reward points can be provided with each affirmative stepthe member consumer performs. Referring also to FIG. 8E for example, awebsite may be presented by the promotion operator 18 to the memberconsumer 14 at the closing of the promotion. The website of FIG. 8Eindicates various amounts of reward points that have been given to themember consumer 14 for his various actions. The reward points areprovided to the member consumer 14 for receiving specific emails,reading the promotion, rating the promotion, and updating (reinforcing)his personal profile.

At step 260 of FIG. 8A, the member consumer 14 may access the sponsor'swebsite in order to get more information or to place an order. Themember consumer 14 can also receive reward points just for accessing thesponsor's website (such as through a link on the promotion website).After accessing the sponsor's website, at step 262, the member consumer14 may decide to purchase the promoted product or service. For somepromoted products, it can be determined if the member consumer 14actually “tried” the promoted products. For example, if the sponsor isselling cars, the member consumer 14 may receive reward points for testdriving the car.

At step 263, a determination is made as to whether the sponsor 16 is todirect the member consumer 14 to evaluate the promotion. If so, thesponsor 16 may ask the member consumer 14 to return to an evaluationwebsite operated by the promotion operator 18. At step 264, the memberconsumer 14 may place a purchase order for the goods or services offeredas a part of the promotion.

Steps 266-276 relate to interactions between the promotion operator 18and the sponsor/advertiser 16. At step 266, a determination is made asto whether the current promotion is an “affiliated” promotion program.An affiliated promotion program describes a long term engagement betweenthe promotion operator 18 and the sponsor/advertiser 16 for multiplepromotions. Otherwise, the engagement between the promotion operator 18and the sponsor advertiser 16 is on a per-promotion basis. If theengagement is on a per-promotion basis, then at step 268, thesponsor/advertiser 16 sends a compensation commission back to thepromotion operator 18 based on the number of actual purchasers referredby the promotion operator 18 through the promotion. If the engagement islong term (affiliated), at step 270 the sponsor/advertiser 16 providesinformation to the promotion operator 18 about interactive behavior ofthe member consumers 14 while at web sites controlled by thesponsor/advertiser.

The interactive behavior information may include “clickstream”information (a recordation of links and items selected by the memberconsumer) and purchase information. The interactive behavior informationindicates how the member consumer 14 responds to the promotion, and mayinclude any or all activities from receipt of the promotion email toactual purchases made at the websites of the sponsor/advertiser 16. Thisinformation is useful for evaluating the present promotion and fordesigning better promotions in the future. For example, this informationcan act as a barometer of how receptive the member consumer 14 is toonline marketing and promotion methods. If the member consumer 14accepts and reads delivered promotions for various kinds of products,this information alone indicates that the member consumer is likely tobe influenced by internet promotions in general. If the member consumer14 always reads and accumulates reward points, but never purchases anypromoted items, the member consumer can be identified as one who is onlyinterested in getting free rewards, but is not a serious buyer. Thebehavior information of the member consumer 14 can also be used toverify the accuracy or modify the true meaning of the information themember consumer 14 voluntarily provides during the enrollment process orother profile enrichment processes.

Additional information can be received through post-promotionevaluations and follow-up surveys. The promotion operator 18 may alsocombine related promotions in a single follow-up survey. With theprofile information and the interactive behavior information on hand,the promotion operator 18 can, at step 272, poll the member consumers 14about the promoted products and services. Various questions can bedesigned and asked for the member consumer 14 so that the promotionoperator 18 can obtain information about the “decision making process”of the member consumers 14. At step 274, an evaluation of the promotioncan be derived and at step 276, a report can be generated and deliveredto the sponsors/advertisers 16.

4. Enrichment and Analysis of the Profile Database

Once the profile database 30 has been created, it can be continuouslyenriched and analyzed to provide important information to the promotionoperator 18. The profile database 30 is more effective if it can providerecent and accurate profile information for each member consumer 14.Therefore, it is important that the profile database 30 be continuallymaintained and enhanced.

An incentive driven member enrollment program, such as described andillustrated in FIG. 5A-5I above, collects information about a memberconsumer, such as demographic information, area of interest, purchasebehavior, and major purchases or life events. With this initial processcompleted, the profile database 30 has a core content base that isvaluable to the sponsor/advertiser 16 and the promotion operator 18.However, having the initial enrollment information alone may not besufficient to assure that the profile database 30 will be usedeffectively for the purpose of targeted marketing. For example, if it isfound that a particular member consumer is interested in electronicproducts in general, without further investigation or tracking of hispost-enrollment on-line promotion review or purchase behavior, it isdifficult to ascertain what specific types of electronic devices inwhich the member consumer may be interested.

Referring now to FIG. 9, several processes can be used to furtherenrich, analyze, and utilize the profile database 30. At step 324, afterthe creation of 25 the profile database, a profile enrichment process326 may be implemented to follow up with the member consumer 14 tofurther investigate his evolving personal interests, and thus providemore accurate profile information to enrich the profile database 30.

The profile enrichment process 326 interacts with the member consumer 14in multiple occurrences provided by the promotion. By taking everyopportunity to obtain the member consumers' feedback, the profiledatabase 30 is constantly supplied with and modified by the newestinformation from the member consumers and reflects the updated interestsof each member consumer 14.

Referring now to FIG. 10, the profile enrichment process 326 includes atleast four processes that may be used to enrich the profile database 30.One process is a dynamic personal profile enrichment process 330 whichcontinually enriches a personal profile of each member consumer 14stored in the profile database. A separate behavioral analysis process331 is used to extract useful information from a member consumer'sbehavior relating to the promotion. Another process is a promotionresult verification process 332 which verifies the results of specificpromotions with the sponsor/advertiser 16. A fourth process is aperiodic profile updating process 334 which may be performed throughincentive driven surveys. Each of these processes 330, 331, 332, and 334are discussed in greater detail below.

The dynamic personal profile enrichment process 330 is geared towardsasking the member consumer 14 predetermined questions and returningupdated profile information to the profile database from the answersprovided by the member consumer 14. For example, in the websitesoperated by the promotion operator, the member consumer may be directedto rate a specific promotion offer in exchange for an incentive such asreward points. Consider for example that the member consumer 14 accessesa website that promotes a particular model (Brand X) computer. Thepromotion operator 18 questions the member consumer 14 to see how herates this particular offer in comparison with computer offers of othercompetitive brands or to other Brand X computers. Other questionsregarding the relevance and the richness of the promotion can also beasked so that the promotion operator 18 can obtain information about howclose the promotion relates to the interests of the member consumer 14and how valuable the promotion has presented itself to the memberconsumer 14. Examples are also shown in FIGS. 8C and 8D, discussedabove.

Furthermore, the promotion operator 18 can provide historicalinformation from the profile database 30 to the member consumer 14 toinform the member consumer how he has rated similar promotion offers forthis type of product. This gives the member consumer 14 a clear pictureto do a “vertical” comparison. By having the member consumer 14 reflecton his past promotion related behavior, and thus provide a more accurateassessment of the quality of the current promotion offer, severalbenefits are achieved. For one, the profile database 30 gains a mostrecent update on the evolving interest of this member consumer 14.Moreover, with the evaluation information from each member consumer inthe selected segment for the particular promotion, the promotionoperator 18 can understand how the selected member consumer segmentevaluates the promotion under study in view of promotions in a similarcategory so that a similar future promotion offer can be designed betterfor the same segment or a sub-segment of member consumers.

The design of the survey questions are also valuable for investigatingthe true interests of the member consumers 14. In one embodiment, thereare three categories of questions that are prompted to the memberconsumers. The first category includes promotion specific questions,such as those discussed above. The second category includes profilespecific questions. This may include questions that were skipped duringthe initial enrollment process, “breadth” questions which are notrelated to the particular promotion under study (e.g., “do you plan onacquiring a new pet?”), and “depth” questions which can be associatedwith the promotion under study (e.g., “do you already have an internetservice provider?”). The third category includes questions that delveinto the member consumer's interest levels for new types of promotionoffers (e.g., “would you consider planning a vacation over theinternet?”). Moreover, the promotion operator 18 can monitor how themember consumer has acted after receiving the promotion, and obtainclickstream data containing the member consumer's interactive behaviorinformation which compliments and validates the information gatheredfrom the aforementioned three categories of questions.

All the questions can be prioritized so that the promotion operator 18can have a better control of all consumer interactions. Variousquestions can be generated and provided to the member consumerdynamically in accordance with the priority status of each. For example,if a member consumer is reading about promotion emails regarding airlinetickets (which is considered as a subcategory of a larger categoryregarding travel), he may be asked questions related to the airlineticket sales. Also, questions skipped in the enrollment process butrelated to the travel category may be asked.

The behavioral analysis process 331 is responsive to how a particularmember consumer 14 interacts with on-line promotions of thesponsor/advertiser 16 through promotion emails and multiple web sites ofthe promotion operator. In one example, the member consumer 14 may reademails that contain brief descriptions about products in which he may beinterested, and then is directed to the websites which provide moredetailed information about such products. The mere fact that the memberconsumer 14 opts to view certain emails among numerous deliveredpromotion emails is already an indication of where his interests lie.When the member consumer 14 decides to click through the selected emailsto reach corresponding websites, it should be clear to the promotionoperator that the member consumer's interests in the products presentedin these websites are one level higher than before. Hence, theinformation derived from the member consumer's interactive behavior willbe stored for reflecting the interests of the member consumer 14 and forenriching the profile database. For example, each website is assigned anidentification number (WebiD), and whenever a website is accessed by amember consumer 14, the promotion operator 18 stores the WebiD inconnection with the member consumer's own account identification.Therefore, a study of consumer behavior can be conducted on a personallevel.

The promotion result verification process 332 may also be performed bythe promotion operator 18 to verify promotion results from both themember consumer 14 and the sponsor/advertiser 16. Continuing with theprior example, on the website advertising the Brand X computer, thepromotion operator 18 uses incentives to ask the member consumer 14about his past promotion-based purchase behavior. For instance, whilethe member consumer 14 is in the website reading about the Brand Xcomputer, questions may be asked to determine whether the memberconsumer has purchased any computer related equipment after reading thepromotion offers sent by the promotion operator 18. Alternatively, thepromotion operator 18 may obtain a list of purchasers from thesponsor/advertiser 16 (Brand X in this example) through on-line oroff-line communication channels to determine whether this particularmember consumer 14 has indeed purchased anything from Brand X due tosuccessful promotions “pushed” by the promotion operator. In addition,the promotion operator 18 may still get available interactive behaviorinformation of the member consumer regardless of whether or not apurchase is eventually made.

These activities help to enrich the profile database 30 by coordinatingpurchase behavior to the member consumer's behavior in reading priorpromotions. In the Brand X example, it is possible for the promotionoperator 18 to store information in the profile database 30 to reflectwhich promotion emails advertising computers this member consumer 14 hasread and which model of computer he eventually purchased. If the memberconsumer 14 has purchased a promoted “Brand Y” computer in lieu of aBrand X computer, the profile database 30 can provide information for acomparison between these two different promotions and give an indicationabout why the member consumer made his decision. For the promotionoperator 18, it would be important to know whether the purchase decisionof the member consumer 14 is swung by the design of the promotion, priceof the promoted products, or any other factors.

Referring also to FIG. 11A, in addition to the above mentioned profiledatabase enrichment processes 330 and 332, the periodic profile updatingprocess 334 may be performed through incentive driven surveys. At step336, the promotion operator 18 determines whether the periodic profileupdating process 334 should be triggered based on some predeterminedcriteria. If so, several different surveys may be implemented.

FIG. 11B illustrates a website to which the member consumer is directedduring the various profile database enrichment processes or the periodicprofile updating process 334. The member consumer 14 can be furtherdirected to answer questions such as those described in FIGS. 11C-11Dfrom which the newest information about the member consumer 14 can bederived.

A monthly follow-up survey 338 presents a list of all promotion offersthat have been sent to the member consumer 14 in the past month (orother period of time) and checks whether the member consumer has madeany purchase based on these promotion offers. The member consumer 14 canbe directed to a website to provide his feedback as shown at step 340.The member consumer 14 may then fill out a form that indicates whetherhe has purchased the promoted product, purchased a competing product,still considers to purchase the product, or is not presently interestedin the product at all. In exchange for the member consumer's response,an incentive, e.g. reward points, may be given to the member consumer 14which can be redeemed on another website run by the promotion operator18.

A quarterly follow-up survey 342 may also be used. In this survey, thepromotion operator 18 offers the member consumer 14 rewards in returnfor revisiting and updating his profile. At step 344, the memberconsumer 14 may update the profile database 30 in response to variousquestions. The profile may use the questions that have been asked duringthe previous quarter, as well as new questions that the promotionoperator 18 believes to be important for enhancing the accuracy of theprofile database 30. It is understood that the follow-up survey can beconducted in different time periods as well, as long as it providescurrent updates to the profile database 30.

A periodic service driven survey 346 is directed to member consumers 14who have shown a negative interest in the promotions, such as those whohave not clicked through promotion emails to the websites that describedetails of the offers, or who have given low ratings for certainpromotions. At step 348, a compiled list of previous promotions may bepresented to the member consumer 14, including his past actionsregarding these promotions. Further, the survey asks questions toconfirm whether the member consumer 14 indeed has no interest in thistype of product, or whether his rejections of these promotions are dueto higher-than-expected prices, or any other reasons.

Referring again to FIG. 9, a promotion report 350 can use the profiledatabase 30 for reporting the effect of promotions for the benefit ofthe sponsor/advertiser 16 and the promotion operator 18. Theeffectiveness of any promotion can depend on how closely the segment ofmember consumers 14 can be identified. A post-promotion report on howwell the promotion has impacted the member consumers 14 may be importantand valuable to future promotions and product sales. The profiledatabase 30 allows the promotion operator 18 to analyze all importantaspects of the profile information and compile a report assessing thequality of the promotion offers.

Still taking the Brand X computer promotion offer as an example, foreach member consumer 14, the promotion operator 18 can find out therating of each related computer promotion offer in which the memberconsumer has given. For instance, if a promotion for BrandY computerswas rated at 2.5 points, a promotion for Brand Z computers was rated at4.5 points, and a promotion for Brand X computers was rated at 3.5, itbecomes evident that this member consumer gives a 3.5 average rating forcomputer associated promotions. Another member consumer may have adifferent average rating number for the same three rounds of promotions.Then, the promotion operator 18 can also compile various reports basedon statistical distributions of data. For instance, a normalized valueof average ratings for all computer promotions by all the memberconsumers who have received these promotions can be obtained. A reportshowing the normalized value for the Brand X computer promotion can thenbe produced. Further, a variance or standard deviation can also becreated based on the data stored in the profile database to show arating gap among the member consumers.

The promotion operator 18 can also generate a report showing an averagerating of all the promotions a particular member consumer has receivedand rated in a predetermined time period. This provides a clear pictureof where the current promotion stands in a spectrum of promotions forthis member consumer. FIGS. 12A-12C illustrate websites including thereports on the promotions. FIG. 12A gives the promotion operator 18 asummary view of a series of promotions regarding their “click-through”effects. FIG. 12B illustrates detailed statistical data about aparticular promotion. The statistical data includes the number of emailssent, the number of emails returned, the richness and relevance ratinginformation provided by the member consumers of the segment, andgraphical presentations of this data. FIG. 12C is directed to a costanalysis report to the promotion operator for the promotion under study.

In addition to the promotion report 350, the promotion operator 18 orthe sponsor/advertisers 16 can use a future promotion process 352 tofocus on a highly selective segment of member consumers 14 by providingcertain selection criteria for a future promotion. For example, theadvertiser/supplier 16 of Brand X can simply ask the promotion operator18 to target member consumers 14 who have consistently given a ratingabove 3.5 for computers. The promotion operator 18 can also analyze theeffectiveness of past promotions in depth and utilize the profiledatabase in future promotions for focusing on a premiere segment ofmember consumers 14. It is evident that selection criteria may not belimited by rating numbers alone, and various factors can also be used.

Referring to FIG. 13, the profile database can also be analyzed using agraphical user interface 400. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, a graphical user interface 400 incorporating “drag & drop”technology to determine a segment or a targeted group of memberconsumers 14. The graphical user interface 400 can intelligentlycharacterize sub-segments of the member consumers contained in theprofile database 30 by presenting “Buttons” (402-408), each indicating asub-segment of the member consumers sharing a common characteristic.These Buttons can be predetermined by the promotion operator, or can bedefined by the promotion operator dynamically in the design stage ofeach promotion. In addition, certain “core” Buttons may be constantlyavailable, while the promotion operator 18 still has the freedom ofdefining new Buttons based on the characteristics of the promotion indesign. For example, Button 402 represents (links to) all memberconsumers who enjoy an annual income of more than $50 k, Button 404represents the member consumers who have indicated that they love music,Button 406 shows those who have bought items through onlinetransactions, and Button 408 connects to those who have expressed theirinterests in travel. The graphical user interface 400 can have as manyButtons as the profile database 30 can be divided by single features.The promotion operator 18, in order to identify a targeted group for apromotion, needs only to drag and drop selected Buttons to apredetermined area 410 on the computer screen. An overlapping area 412among these dropped Buttons represents member consumers who share theselected features. Consequently, a segment of the member consumers 14 isdefined by the overlapping area 412.

The analysis may also include various attempts to achieve an optimalsegment of the member consumers, including predicting the response fromthe member consumers 14 (which may later be compared with the actualresults to further improve the prediction process). This analysis mayalso be used to determine a cost of the promotion, which may then beforwarded to the sponsor/advertiser 16.

As mentioned above, to mitigate the possibility that some memberconsumers 14 may be unwilling to spend time and effort to disclose theirevaluation of the promotions or their purchase behavior, an incentivesuch as reward points may be provided. The accumulated reward points canbe 25 redeemed for products in a website operated by the promotionoperator 18. This also establishes a relationship between the promotionoperator 18 and the member consumers 14, which in turn ensures that themember consumers are more likely to be associated with the promotionoperator for an extended period of time. By having the member consumers14 access the promotion operator's websites as often as possible, therelationship is enhanced as the consumer feels more and more comfortablein dealing with the promotion operator 18. As a result, the memberconsumer 14 will be more likely to participate in the promotions and bemore willing to disclose their comments and evaluations of thepromotions.

In some embodiments, the member consumer 14 is granted access to his ownprofile as stored in the profile database 30. A log-in name and passwordprotection, or similar privacy protection mechanism, is used to ensurethat there is no excessive exposure or illegal use of the storedinformation. While accessing his own profile, the member consumer 14 canview all historical changes that have been made to his profile. Themember consumer 14 may also have the ability to inform the promotionoperator 18 that he does not wish to receive future promotion emails, ornot for a predetermined period of time.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to the preferred embodiment, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, asset forth in the following claims.

1. A method for improving online market research, the method comprising:creating, from a plurality of online users, a first user segmentcomprising first qualifying users according to a selected analysis modelthat compares online user requirements to user profile informationstored in a user database; transmitting a first survey to one or morefirst qualifying users; measuring at least one of content of a surveyresponse of one or more first qualifying users and a behavior of one ormore first qualifying users; in response to the measuring, refining theuser profile information to update the user profile database, therefining comprising: performing a user profile enrichment process byasking one or more first qualifying users at least one ofsurvey-specific questions, user profile-specific questions, andquestions relating to the user's interest in a product or service;performing a user behavioral analysis process; and performing a userresult verification process by confirming if one or more firstqualifying users has made past purchases of products or servicesrelating to the first survey; retrieving, from the updated user profiledatabase, the refined user profile information; creating, from theplurality of online users, a second user segment comprising secondqualifying users according to the selected analysis model that comparesthe online user requirements to the refined user profile informationstored in the updated user database.
 2. The method of claim 1 whereinperforming a user personal profile enrichment process further comprises:providing information relating to historical behavior of the one or moreusers to prompt the one or more users to provide more accurate responsesto the first survey.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein performing theuser behavioral analysis process comprises: recording at least oneelectronic communication viewed by the one or more users, or at leastone website accessed by the one or more users in conjunction withviewing the at least one electronic communication.
 4. The method ofclaim 1 wherein refining the user profile information to update the userprofile database further comprises: performing a periodic profileupdating process by periodically offering one or more first qualifiedusers incentives to provide additional information.
 5. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising: retrieving refined user profile informationfrom the updated user database to derive a first survey report, thefirst survey report reflecting the degree to which the first surveyimpacted one or more users in the first user segment.
 6. The method ofclaim 5 further comprising: transmitting the first survey report to thesurvey issuer.
 7. A system for improving online market research, thesystem comprising: a receiver for receiving, from a first survey issuer,a first survey, the first survey associated with requirements of onlineusers; logic coupled to the receiver for creating, from a plurality ofonline users, a first user segment comprising first qualifying usersaccording to a selected analysis model that compares online userrequirements to user profile information stored in a user database;logic for transmitting a first survey to one or more first qualifyingusers; logic for measuring at least one of content of a survey responseof one or more first qualifying users and a behavior of one or morefirst qualifying users; logic for, in response to the measuring,refining the user profile information to update the user profiledatabase, the refining comprising: performing a user profile enrichmentprocess by asking one or more first qualifying users at least one ofsurvey-specific questions, user profile-specific questions, andquestions relating to the user's interest in a product or service;performing a user behavioral analysis process; and performing a userresult verification process by confirming if one or more firstqualifying users has made past purchases of products or servicesrelating to the first survey; logic for retrieving, from the updateduser profile database, the refined user profile information; logic forcreating, from the plurality of online users, a second user segmentcomprising second qualifying users according to the selected analysismodel that compares the online user requirements to the refined userprofile information stored in the updated user database.
 8. The systemof claim 7 further comprising logic for: performing a user personalprofile enrichment process further comprises: providing informationrelating to historical behavior of the one or more users to prompt theone or more users to provide more accurate responses to the firstsurvey.
 9. The system of claim 7 further comprising logic for: recordingat least one electronic communication viewed by the one or more users,or at least one website accessed by the one or more users in conjunctionwith viewing the at least one electronic communication.
 10. The systemof claim 7 further comprising logic for: performing a periodic profileupdating process by periodically offering one or more first qualifiedusers incentives to provide additional information.
 11. The system ofclaim 7 further comprising logic for: retrieving refined user profileinformation from the updated user database to derive a first surveyreport, the first survey report reflecting the degree to which the firstsurvey impacted one or more users in the first user segment.
 12. Thesystem of claim 11 further comprising logic for: transmitting the firstsurvey report to the survey issuer.
 13. A method for improving onlinemarket research, the method comprising: establishing a plurality ofonline user requirements to qualify as a user that can receive an onlinesurvey on behalf of a survey issuer; in response to establishing,retrieving, from a user profile database, user profile informationrelating to a plurality of online users, wherein the user profiledatabase comprises: a transaction database storing information specificto the online users that is obtained from interactions involving theonline users, and a marketing database, in communication with thetransaction database, storing information specific to the survey issuerand extracts of data from the transaction database; creating, usinginformation read from the marketing database, an online user segment,the online user segment comprising a subset of the plurality of onlineusers sharing the qualification requirements; transmitting a firstsurvey to the online user segment, the first survey being relevant tothe qualification requirements; receiving, at least partially inresponse to transmitting the survey, user response information from atleast one user in the online user segment; and creating, from the userresponse information, a first survey report, the first survey reportreflecting the degree to which the first survey impacted the one or moreusers in the first user segment.
 14. The method of claim 13 furthercomprising: measuring user response behavior and, in response to themeasuring response behavior, updating the user profile information andidentifying an updated set of surveys for which a user qualifies basedon the updated profile information.
 15. The method of claim 13 wherein:the first survey comprises questions that are prioritized in response toobserved consumer behavior.
 16. The method of claim 13 wherein:transmitting a first survey to the online user segment comprisesdirecting the consumer to a website provided by the survey issuer tocomplete the survey.
 17. The method of claim 13 wherein: updating thedatabase in response to measuring the response behavior comprises: adynamic personal profile enrichment process that continuously enriches apersonal profile for each online user; a behavior analysis process thatextracts online user behavior relating to at least the first survey; aresult verification process that verifies the results of at least thefirst survey with the survey issuer; and a periodic profile updateprocess that conveys incentives to the online user for participation inat least the first survey.
 18. A system for improving online marketresearch, the system comprising: a receiver for receiving, from ansurvey issuer, a plurality of online user requirements to qualify as auser that can receive an online survey on behalf of the survey issuer;logic for establishing a plurality of online user requirements toqualify as a user that can receive an online survey on behalf of asurvey issuer; in response to establishing, retrieving, from a userprofile database, user profile information relating to a plurality ofonline users, wherein the user profile database comprises: a transactiondatabase storing information specific to the online users that isobtained from interactions involving the online users, and a marketingdatabase, in communication with the transaction database, storinginformation specific to the survey issuer and extracts of data from thetransaction database; creating, using information read from themarketing database, an online user segment, the online user segmentcomprising a subset of the plurality of online users sharing thequalification requirements; transmitting a first survey to the onlineuser segment, the first survey being relevant to the qualificationrequirements; receiving, at least partially in response to transmittingthe survey, user response information from at least one user in theonline user segment; and creating, from the user response information, afirst survey report, the first survey report reflecting the degree towhich the first survey impacted the one or more users in the first usersegment.
 19. The system of claim 18 further comprising: logic formeasuring user response behavior and, in response to the measuringresponse behavior, updating the user profile information and identifyingan updated set of surveys for which a user qualifies based on theupdated profile information.
 20. The system of claim 18 wherein: thefirst survey comprises questions that are prioritized in response toobserved consumer behavior.
 21. The system of claim 18 wherein:transmitting a first survey to the online user segment comprisesdirecting the consumer to a website provided by the survey issuer tocomplete the survey.
 22. The system of claim 18 further wherein thelogic for updating the data base in response to measuring the responsebehavior comprises: dynamic personal profile enrichment process logicthat continuously enriches a personal profile for each online user;behavior analysis process logic that extracts online user behaviorrelating to at least the first survey; result verification process logicthat verifies the results of at least the first survey with the surveyissuer; and periodic profile update process logic that conveysincentives to the online user for participation in at least the firstsurvey.